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There are cars that take hours or even days to discover their true personality, and there are those that give it all away in the first five minutes. The Ford Focus RS is of the latter persuasion, showing its pure, unbridled brilliance with the first firm application of the throttle and angry twist of the steering wheel. I had a chance to get behind the wheel of the RS recently during a trip to check out Ford‘s new C-Max vehicles, and it was worth every minute at the helm.

The wizards at Ford of Europe have exorcised almost all traces of torque steer to the point that the uninitiated could easily mistake it for an all-wheel drive car despite the boosted 2.5-liter I-5 that puts down 305 horsepower and 325 pound-feet of torque. Mini and Mazda should perform some industrial espionage and come up with their own variant of the RS’ RevoKnuckle suspension for JCW Coopers and the Speed3, respectively.

All inputs of the Focus RS respond almost telepathically, as if they’re wired into the driver’s spinal column. Think Mechwarrior battle mech if you’re geeky enough to know what that is. The Recaro seats hold you in place as good as any seat can without the use of a five-point harness. Simply put, this is a stunning driver’s car that, with a good hand behind the wheel, could easily leave more expensive, more powerful, and more exotic cars in its rear-view mirror.

Were it available in the U.S., the Focus RS would likely run in the $40,000-$45,000 range. Of course, that would only happen were there to be another one, as the current model is at the end of its run. It’s being sent out with a final run of a half-thousand 350-horse RS500 limited-edition models. One was available for a quick spin as well, but it was a right-hand drive model and, since I’d never driven one of those before, hopping into the driver’s seat seemed ill-advised. Discretion is the better part of valor and all that.

To date, the ST is the only sporty model of the new-generation Focus that’s been announced. This one is due about a year after the arrival of the rest of the Focus lineup this winter. Of course, given how brilliant the existing RS is, it’d be a disservice to enthusiasts everywhere for Ford to not go for a repeat. And, thanks to Alan Mullaly’s “One Ford,” we’d actually have a fighting chance of getting one.